As long as you love me
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: this will be a little bit out there because the guys are using alien technology to shape shift into humans.Mars fell to the Plutarkians leaving only four thousand of the planets inhabitants alive and seeking sanctuary.better summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

This will be a little bit out there but I need all of you to bear with me. And please excuse the bad joke about where the guys live. I've had a rough, _rough_ night.

Mars fell to the Plutakians and only four thousand of it's native people survived. Desperate for a planet where they could start again, the martians landed on Earth. Here there was plenty of land, and water and life.

There were cities and people everywhere.

Their first priority was to establish a place to call their home.

Their second priority was to integrate themselves with the humans around them. To do this they invented an alien technology that forced them to shape shift into humans. Sacrificing some of their height, muscle mass and bulk without sacrificing their keen senses, strength, agility or stealth.

Their third priority was adapting and the next one...

The next priority is rebuilding their population. The males who originally outnumbered the females three to one, are being encouraged to mate and reproduce. The story starts six months after Earth's government has found out about the mice and granted them sanctuary and even hired some of them to work for them.

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Area 51-000

Suburbia wasn't what they had imagined it would be. They had thought that things would be a little more..._imperfect_ and a little less Standford Wives. Everything was so _quiet_. Nothing at all like the rural areas that they had had on Mars. Where everything had been rushed and loud and a little bit messy.

Where as here everything was so neat and tidy.

The houses were perfect.

The yards and gardens were perfect.

And the people... Were nauseatingly perfect too in their own way.

"I don't think I want to live here." Vinny said as he scooted down in his seat until just the top of his head was visible through the window. Quite a feat for someone who in his human form was six foot four inches. His stormy blue eyes anxiously staring out the back SUV window at the people mowing their yards. He didn't think that they would fit in here.

But since they had been assigned to this area in particular then they didn't really have a choice. The people running the human government could be a bunch of assholes when you said no to them over something that they considered a favor. "Stop looking so freaked Vinny. You're making us look weirder than we really are." Modo said as he twisted around in his seat a little bit. His dark hair falling in his face a little bit.

Vinny looked at him like he'd like to kick him, but said nothing.

He'd learned to keep most of his smart ass comments to himself when he was in his human form around Modo. Mainly because Modo was still the same freakishly tall, scary, son of a bitch that he was in his alien form.

Aside from the lack of furriness and the almost pretty boy looks, the man didn't look at all like himself. And if not for the fact that his was still missing an eye and still had a mechanical arm, Vinny would think that he was a frigging movie star or something.

"I'm not making us look weird. If anyone is making us look weird, its Orlando Bloom over here." Vinny snapped as he glanced across the seat at Throttle who had (in an effort to hide his new looks from the unsuspecting public and to keep from drawing attention to himself) had bundled himself in a black and royal blue hoody with a dragon on it. The hood pulled up over his head until only the lower half of his face was showing.

"I wouldn't be picking on Throttle, man. He's sensitive about his looks without his fur and tail. Besides it's not his fault that he looks like that movie star guys doppelganger." Modo said as he glanced over at Throttle, noting that he was curled up in the small space behind the drivers seat. His knees were braced on the back of the seat in front of him and he was scooted down until only the top of his hooded head was showing.

His arms were crossed over his stomach and he seemed to be either completely ignoring the flow of conversation (which was possible since he liked to bide his time and hurt Vinny once they were _outside_ of the vehicle) or he was napping after the long and more than a little strenuous trip from Washington D.C (which was also possible since he hadn't moved a muscle for a while now).

"Yeah. Well...who else is stationed around here?" Vinny asked in an effort to steer conversation down a less dangerous path.

"Rimfire, Carbine, Modo's sister and mom are in the neighborhood where we'll be living too. There are others. But I'm not one hundred percent about _who_ they are." Stoker finally spoke up from the driver seat.

"What kind of day jobs did the government give us to use as cover?" Vinny asked curiously.

"I'm a lawyer-" Stoker said in utter disgust. As nice as it was to know the laws that governed humans intimately, he hated the mountains of paper work that went with his new job. "Modo is going to have two jobs, one teaching auto shop at the local high school, and another at the local youth center-" Modo grinned happily and punched the air with his mechanical arm.

"Yes! Jackpot!"

Stoker and Vinny both shook their head at the dark haired man. The lucky bastard. His jobs involved things that he actually _liked_. Cars and kids.

"Vinny, you'll be a motor cross racer and from time to time you'll help at the youth center-" Vinny moved to sit normally in his seat again.

"Do I get a bike?"

"You get a bike."

"Will it be cool?"

"The coolest."

"Alrighty then." Was all Vinny said before finally shutting up. Stoker and Modo chuckled. The blond was so easy to please.

"And Throttle will be working as a karate instructor, to teach some of the younger generation males in the area how to fight since it's felt among the older generations that fighting knowledge will help keep them safe." Stoker said as he turned the wheel and drove up to a tall iron gate that was attached to a thirteen foot solid red brick wall.

The second the SUV stopped, Throttle jerked in his seat and started to move. "Where are we?"

"In suburbia." Stoker said cheerfully as he rolled down the window and unfastened his seat belt so that he could half climb out the window to punch in the security code for the gate.

"In hell." Vinny growled in annoyance as Stoker drove through the gate and up the long drive way to a nice large, two story colonial style cabin with a big wrap around porch and roses and parked the vehicle.

"Okay Throttle. Here is your place. Go check it out and see if it fits your taste." Throttle blinked his turquoise eyes and stared out the window at the large two story house and felt the intense need to shutter. Dear god in heaven. This was his new home?


	2. Chapter 2

The houses that had been built for them were impressive to say the least.

The rustic colonial style cabin houses sat on an twenty acre lot. An acre apart, from Stokers place. They were nice and cozy and suited the personal tastes and needs of Modo and Throttle. Both of whom would be living as bachelors until they met a female willing to saddle herself with them and bear their young.

They'd each checked out their new homes and taken note of the things that they had, like furniture and appliances.

And the things that their new homes lacked, like food, clothes, personal effects, hygiene products, exct... Which was why after they borrowed the SUV after dropping Stoker off at his new place which was at least twice as big and impressive as Throttle and Modo's homes combined. The trip to the local super center took fifteen minutes.

Which was fine by Throttle since Modo had been the one driving while he tried to rest a little bit more in the front passenger seat while Vinny amused himself by playing with the automatic window. Once they were in the parking lot and the car was parked. The three unbuckled themselves and climbed out of the car and looked around almost awkwardly.

Gods there were people _everywhere_.

Men. Women. Children and teens. All of them walking or running. All of them talking or arguing or laughing or crying. All of them _alive_ and _healthy_.

It was such a welcome sight compared to the deserted streets and razed neighborhoods littered with broken and dead bodies that they had grown up seeing back on Mars during the war. "I don't think I'll ever get over how many people there are..." Modo said in awe as a couple with a small child walked by.

The baby looked right at them and blinked it's blue eyes and held a little spit covered hand out in their direction and made cooing sounds. "_Awww_." Vinny said as he lifted one hand and wiggled his fingers at the little one before it and it's parents disappeared from sight.

"You like kids Vinny?" Modo asked curiously because he'd never seen Vinny wave at a kid before. He'd seen him kick a puppy a time or two, but those had been accidents due to the puppies getting under his feet when they should have steered clear.

Vinny looked at him and blushed a little bit. "Hell no."

"How are you going to help us rebuild our population if you don't like kids?"

"Easy. I'm not having kids once I have myself a nice girl. I won't want to share. Besides...any kid I have is bound to be dropped on it's head or something. So it'd be better and safer for all if I don't have any kids to begin with." Vinny said in an unusually somber tone, his expression unreadable as he started walking.

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The inside of the super store was just like the Wal-mart that they had visited when they had first landed on earth. Which made things a little easier on them since they had so much stuff that they had to buy. As soon as they walked through the front door and grabbed a buggy, they were off in separate directions.

Throttle hit the hygiene aisle first, grabbing some razors, a hair brush, some deodorant, co lone, a tooth brush and tooth paste then moved on to the next aisle to grab some shampoo and soap. Then headed over to the clothes aisle and looking through the stuff.

He found several sweaters. A dark blue one, a red one, a black one, a white knit. He found some Capri pants and some jeans, and went looking for a dressing room so that he could make sure that the clothes fit him before putting them in the small pile in his buggy then went looking for some other things.

He found himself some formal shirts and ties (because he believed in being prepared for anything) some black, white and gray dress pants to match the shirts and ties. Socks. Jackets. Hoodies. He didn't bother with any underwear since it caused his furless skin to chafe. He did however grab some sweat pants and thin pajama pants to wear around his new home then found himself a few hats before moving on to the shoe section to find him some nice leather boots.

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Modo was starting to get irritated as Vinny whizzed by him for the up tenth time while riding on his buggy and singing 'It's the most wonderful time of the Year' like in the back to school commercial that sometimes played on TV. Vinny reached the end of the aisle and turned the buggy around and started to come back, one arm reaching out and absent mindedly knocking random things into his buggy as he sang.

Modo's eye twitched a little bit and he abruptly set the can of tomato sauce down and extended his arm and clothes lined Vinny in mid verse. "It's the most wonderful time of the-errrgth!"

Vinny hit the white tile floor on his back with a soft thud and lay there making overly dramatic choking sounds as Modo stopped his buggy to keep it from slamming into some hapless person then picked up another can of tomato sauce and stepped over his bro and started walking away.

Intending to get as far away as possible and _pretend_ that he didn't know the blond twitching on the floor.

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Throttle was looking in the book section of the store. Not for any real reason, he was just curious about what sort of literature the humans had on hand. He'd never read a book written by a human before and figured that it might be fun to do in his spare time if he could find something that interested him.

So far he was having trouble reigning in his irritation. All he was seeing was a bunch of sissy books. And he'd die an agonizing death _before_ he ever so much as picked up a raunchy romance. Where was the stuff that manly men liked to read?

He growled without realizing it, not knowing that he was drawing a few curious stares from some of the other people standing in the general vicinity of where he was currently standing with his arms crossed, his foot tapping the tile floor in a slow rhythm as he scanned the book titles. He was about to turn and leave when a pale slender arm appeared from somewhere to his side with a thick dark blue book with the words Lover Eternal appeared in front of his face, startling him slightly since he generally heard people when they walked up to or close to him.

He jerked his head to the left and glanced down and blinked at the thick dark hair that topped the head of the person standing in his personal space. The human tipped his/her head back a little bit and he nearly squeaked as his eyes locked with the most beautiful and unnatural looking vermilion eyes he'd ever seen before over the rims of some thin wired darkly tinted shades. "You look like your looking for a good read."

He blinked again, not really sure what to say. Or if he was even capable of speech at this point since his voice had yet to make a sound. So he just nodded mutely.

The woman chuckled and moved the book in her hand in front of his face twice before he grabbed it on reflex and looked it over. It looked like just another sissy book to him. "Do you like vampires?" The woman asked curiously and he was really, _really_ tempted to ask her if she was going to bite him if he said yes.

"Uh...yes." He said weakly wondering what she would say to him now. She chuckled again and he tilted his head a little bit and then straitened his head again when he almost lost his hood.

"That's good. Then you might actually like that book."

He didn't say anything, he just looked at the book again. This time a little suspiciously. As if he expected it to grow fangs and bite his fingers off or something. And nearly jumped out of his skin when he looked away from the book and found her squatting on the floor in front of him with her elbows resting on her knees and her chin propped up, her head tipped back so that she could see-

His heart slammed against his ribs in alarm as he hastily moved his free hand to jerk his hood down to hide his face a little better, half expecting her to shriek "Oh my god it's Orlando!" and cause a riot like several other women had done to him. But instead she gave him an amused smile and slipped her shades off and then stood up and said.

"You have such pretty eyes. A peculiar color, but pretty never the less-" She slipped her shades on his face before he could react and he tensed, expecting the worst but instead she just drew her hand back and turned and started to walk away.

He took a small step after her, wanting to ask her why she had given him her shades but she beat him to it. Answering his question before he could even get it out. "Make sure to keep those on. And get a hair cut. No more than an inch or so off if you don't want people thinking that you're him. And if that book doesn't do it for you, then try the Playboy magazines behind you."

"Uh-"

"Later."


	3. Chapter 3

The next two weeks after moving into their new homes they took the time to settle into their old routines. Every morning they got out of bed, showered, got dressed and went jogging around the neighborhood before breakfast.

Today was no different from any other day with the exception that they had a new neighbor moving into the cottage style house on the left of the fence surrounding their home. The second that they slipped through the gate they saw the moving truck and the two small cream colored cars parked in front of the house, and almost came to a total stop.

"Looks like we've got a new neighbor." Vinny said as he slowed his jog to a fast walk as he watched the movers start to carry a couch out of the back of the truck.

"Looks like." Modo said after a second or so.

"We should introduce ourselves-" Throttle said before falling silent for a moment and wondered if it would be a good idea to introduce themselves _now_ while they were out and about or if they should wait a few days so that they wouldn't be bothering anyone.

They had already more or less introduced themselves to everyone on the block.

And had managed to gain some information on the families living in the area. Information about the elderly, the young couples with the kids under sixteen.

They knew exactly how many people lived on the block. Sixty two. Thirty four of whom, were married couples with young children and teens. Fifteen were single males and females in their twenties and thirties. The rest were elderly couples, widows and widowers.

They had been fortunate enough to learn which people they could trust with certain issues (like their eccentric habits), and which ones they couldn't. They had learned from a number of matchmaking mamma's which young women were looking for a relationship, which ones wanted kids exct...

So it was only natural of them to want to learn what they could of their new neighbor even if they ended up making a bad impression on he/she/them. Which was why they stopped jogging and called out to the movers and asked them if they needed help.

One of the movers, a guy named Kirk told them that they would love some help as long as they could put up with a really bossy woman, that they were welcome to help out.

It took the three aliens under two seconds to make their decision since they were information gathering. And climbed into the back of the truck and picked up several things and headed out of the back of the truck as two young women walked out of the house.

Automatically drawing the alien's attention. One woman with mid back length auburn hair, was wearing a sleeveless sky blue mid riff shirt and a pair of overalls. Her hazel eyes flickering to the three of them for a moment while she argued with the slightly shorter, dark haired woman who had her hair pulled back in a slightly skewered side ways ponytail.

"I'm not saying that I don't think that you can take care of yourself. I'm saying that I don't trust that guy to uphold his end of the restraining order. He's already chased you from one home. He'll probably do it again. You should take self defense classes, buy some pepper spray, a tazer and a nice security system to keep him out."

"No." The smaller woman said firmly as they walked down the porch steps while the guys walked up the steps, their minds absorbing every word that the two spoke like sponges.

The brunette made a growling sound. "Then get yourself a nice boyfriend. Someone who wouldn't mind committing murder to keep you safe."

"And where would I find one of those? Chivalrous guys don't exist anymore. They died out just like cowboys and cave men."

"Then find yourself a soldier. They know how to treat a lady and they're not very likely to knock you around or put you in the hospital."

"_Bite me._" The smaller woman snapped in irritation as she climbed up the ramp to the truck and piled a few of the smaller boxes on top of one another and picked them up and started back down again just in time for Throttle to catch a good look at her face and nearly trip over his feet on his way down the porch steps.

It was the woman who had suggested the large hard back book that he had bought on impulse on his first day in the neighborhood. He hadn't been too sure of who she was before, because he hadn't really seen her face when she had walked out of the house or past him and his bros while arguing with her friend.

But he was sure of who she was now.

The dark hair and vermilion eyes gave her away.

He looked away from her face for a second, his eyes doing a slow once over. Analyzing things like her height, weight, body type. And committing them all to memory so that he would know her the next time he saw her. Even if they were in a crowd.

She was petite, stood at about five foot six, weighed about one hundred and twenty and had a lushly curved hour glass figure for one so small and petite. Her skin was an ivory beige, her facial features were_ hauntingly_ beautiful even without the use of cosmetics. Her hair was like strait black silk that hung a little past the middle of her back and curled softly at the tips.

She was wearing an off the shoulder red cotton shirt over a black lace bra (he could see what type of bra she was wearing because he could see the straps) her shirt was tucked into a pair of scandalously short faded denim shorts. Showing off every curve of her body wonderfully.

He vaguely heard Vinny comment on how long her legs were and without warning his fingers closed into a fist and he punched Vinny. Knocking him into the woman's rose bushes and effectively drawing her attention as well as the attention of her friend, right to him.

_Oh crap._

Why had he done that? He wondered in a slight panic.


	4. Chapter 4

"Dude! What the hell did you do that for?" Vinny growled as he untangled himself from the rose bushes and quickly got to his feet. Throttle looked at him, then back at the woman, then back at Vinny as he wracked his brain for an excuse, trying to figure out how to play off his little act of violence, as nothing.

So far he was coming up with two extremely lame excuses. 1) There was a bee after Vinny. And 2) Went something like, involuntary muscle spasm. Of course Vinny wouldn't buy his excuse, but maybe if he was lucky the younger man wouldn't call him on his lie in front of the woman.

"Uhhh...involuntary muscle spasm..." Throttle said lamely, his heart thudded against his ribs and his hands felt like they were starting to sweat. It was so fucking weird. He was usually so calm under pressure but throw a pretty girl in his way and he could easily humiliate himself in 0.2 seconds flat.

Vinny looked at him like he didn't believe him but kept his mouth shut as Modo smoothly intercepted the woman with a polite introduction.

"Hello. I'm so sorry about that. He has Tourrettes Syndrome and just can't control himself. My name is Modo by the way, and these two are my bros-" Modo said as he took the woman's small hand in his mechanical one and kissed her knuckles before continuing to speak. "And we are very happy to be the first ones to welcome you to the neighborhood."

The woman looked like she wanted to say something about the damage to her new rose bushes but quickly turned her attention to Modo and politely introduced herself. "I-I'm Shara Evangeline Circe. I'm very happy to meet you uh... Modo..." Shara said with an awkward smile.

Throttle sighed softly and committed her name to memory as Modo slipped an arm around her shoulders and maneuvered her around to face Throttle and Vinny, giving them both a chance to introduce themselves to her too.

Vinny took the chance to flirt a little bit and all of them were a little surprised when Shara's friend came walking up behind Vinny and kicked him before wrapping an arm around the smaller woman's waist and pulling her back away from them and growled, "Hands. Off."

Modo and Vinny abruptly took two steps back away from the two women and observed them as the brunette led the black haired woman away a little bit and seemed to be telling her to proceed with caution.

Men couldn't be trusted.

Her words would have been _offensive_ and even _hurtful_ to them if they hadn't understood why she wanted Shara to be so cautious. After all she was running from a dangerous person and didn't need to get herself involved with another dangerous person (or three). It just wasn't good for her health, safety _or_ her peace of mind.

After speaking to Shara in hushed tones for a moment or two she let her go and walked over to them and looked them over. "You boys live around here?"

"Just on the other side of the fence."

"How convenient-" The woman said sarcastically before saying. "I'm Charlie, by the way. The only woman in this side of the state line that can kill you in cold blood and get away with it." The three men stared at the woman as she smiled at them, unsure of how to respond when Shara snapped.

"Charlie! Behave!" Charlie looked at Shara innocently as she walked up carrying a box in her arms. Her expression displeased as she glared up at the taller woman as she walked by her.

"Don't mind her, she's harmless. If you're still of a mind to help out then would you mind getting the coffee tables out of the truck?" The question seemed to snap the three out of their funk long enough to nod their heads and scramble to do as she asked.

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An hour or so later the three men set down the last three boxes and straightened their spines a little bit and looked around curiously while Shara came out of the kitchen carrying a few canned lemonades. "Sorry about having so many boxes-" She said as she handed Modo and Throttle their drinks before handing Vinny his. "A majority of these things belonged to my parents."

"That's alright. We don't mind." Vinny said as he wandered over to the bay window across the room and sat down on the window sill.

"Will your parents be coming to live with you?" Modo wondered aloud. Shara shook her head no.

"Fraid not. They died about three or four months-"

Charlie walked by and corrected her in a curt tone. "Six months ago. Learn to count."

"Er...s-six months ago." Shara said in embarrassment as she flushed a pale pink color before made a growling sound in the back of her throat as she vaulted around to glare at the other woman and muttering something along the lines of, "Must resist temptation. Killing your best friend is a bad thing. Besides, you'd be lonely without her prickly attitude to cheer you up. Still...it is very tempting. Maybe I won't have to kill her. Maybe I can just chain her up in the basement."

Modo leaned in and whispered in Throttles ear. "Is she actually rationalizing a way to hold someone prisoner without feeling guilty?"

Throttle nodded his head, feeling just a little weirded out when she stopped muttering to herself and seemed to remember that they were there and asked suddenly. "So what do you guys do for a living?"

"I teach auto shop at the local high school." Modo answered first.

"I do motor cross racing."

"Sounds fun."

"It does, doesn't it." Vinny said almost cheerfully before he took another drink of his lemonade as she shifted her attention to Throttle who stiffened a little bit and almost crushed his canned drink in his hand as his stress levels shot through the roof for a second before he forced himself to relax and answer her.

"I teach karate."

"Sounds cool. But if you don't mind me saying so, you don't really seem like the fighting type."

"I'm normally not-" He started to say but stopped himself from saying more. He wasn't about to tell her that he was more the fighting type than he appeared to be. Not when admitting to having a violent streak could scare her.


	5. Chapter 5

In the coming weeks after moving into the area, Throttle only got to see Shara a handful of times.

Once at an art gallery that Stoker dragged them too. Another at a charity auction. A few times while he was at work- He'd been pleasantly surprised to find that Shara worked directly across the street from his karate Dojo.

Once or twice at the super store while she'd been getting groceries. Once or twice while jogging with his bros- They'd all come across Shara laying on a patio chair out in the front yard, sound sleep and another time had seen her laying on the wooden porch swing, out cold, and had wondered at her aversion to sleeping indoors as they had jogged past.

She'd disappeared for about a week in a half after the last time she'd slept outdoors, and they had gone to check on her and had been greeted by a less than happy Charlie, at the door and had been told that Shara hadn't been picking up the phone so she had come over to check up on her and had found her passed out on the stairs.

Turns out the woman had a very shitty immune system in the summer and was prone to colds, hay fevers, flues and just about anything else that could cause her to run a high fever.

Which Throttle had thought was just _fantastic_, since it could give him the opportunity to try and nurse her back to health and get to know her a little better.

Which is what led him to wait in her bedroom until she had woken up and asked for permission to stay with her in the house until she was better. Surprisingly, she didn't bother asking him why. Probably mistaking his need to nurse her back to health and get to know her better as nothing more than neighborly concern. Or maybe she mistakenly thought it was friendly concern.

Whatever it was that led her to give him permission, he didn't question it much as he went back down stairs and told his bros what he was going to be doing then ran home to take a shower, and grab some stuff before going back to her place and setting his duffel bag down next to the couch and looked around as he listened to the sounds of Vinny, Modo and Charlie all talking in the kitchen while he moved from room to room in an effort to familiarize himself with everything.

After that he made his way to the bathroom outside of the master bedroom and checked the medicine cabinet to see what sort of medicines she had to take care of her fever, her cough, and everything else. She had rapid release extra strength Tylenol. And some orange flavored kids cough medicine.

He frowned a little bit and wondered why she didn't have something stronger and quietly closed the cabinet and went down stairs to ask Charlie if she had medicine allergies or something that might explain why she had children's medicine.

He walked down the stairs and rounded the corner and peeked into the kitchen to discover Vinny and Charlie arm wrestling and hurling insults at each other while the woman forced Vinny's knuckles down. Vinny swore and extracted his hand from the woman and rubbed his sore wrist as Modo leaned back against the counter behind the woman and sipped his coffee with a bemused look on his face.

"Excuse me, Miss Davidson-" Throttle started to say, when the woman turned and looked at him.

"It's Charlie. Not miss Davidson."

"Right. Sorry. I was wondering if Shara has any allergies to specific medicines?"

Charlie gave him a calculating look and crossed her arms over her chest before finally saying. "No, not really. She merely takes the children's medicine because it doesn't react badly with her_ other_ medicines." Throttle blinked and tilted his head to the side a little bit.

_Other medicines?_ He wondered curiously before asking. "Does she have a medical condition?"

Charlie snorted. "Of course she does. She wouldn't need medicine for it if she didn't." She said sarcastically and Throttle felt his irritation towards the hostile woman spike a little bit. What was it exactly about them that she so strongly disliked?

"What sort of condition does she have?" Modo asked, suddenly wanting to join in the conversation. Charlie looked at the giant and seemed to be debating with herself on whether or not to tell them, then after a moment or two sighed.

"She has seizures. She's been having them since she was a little kid. The doctors don't really know why she has them or when it started. All they knew was that something was wrong with her thought patterns and how she functions on a daily basis is _strongly_ influenced by her seizures."

"How bad are they?" Throttle asked curiously.

"Bad enough to affect how she thinks and sees the world around her."

Throttle stared at her, his expression blank. He didn't really understand what she meant. He looked at Modo and Vinny. The looks on their faces spoke volumes. They didn't have a frigging clue either. _Wonderful. _Throttle thought darkly before asking the woman to explain things in a way that they would understand.

Charlie was quiet for a second then said, "To put it as simply as possible, it's like this- Shara's thoughts are more...child like and innocent than the average normal adult. I'm not saying that she's dumb or anything, nor am I saying that she doesn't think; she does. She can often think circles around me and a lot of other people, but her logic and the way she views the world and the people in it. Is just a little bit out there. The way she thinks makes her seem like easy prey, she just so damn trusting-"

"That people tend to take advantage of her." Throttle finished her sentence for her, earning a dark look from the woman before she said.

"Exactly. That's why I don't like strange people hanging around her. They could hurt her _badly_, and she'd allow it because she wouldn't know what was going on until it was too late."

"I see." Was all Throttle said for a moment or so before thanking her for telling them about Shara's condition all the while thinking that he understood now why the woman didn't like them so much. It was because she probably saw them as a threat to her friend. _  
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	6. Chapter 6

A little while later Charlie got a phone call from someone and had to go do something for that someone, leaving the three men alone in the house with her friend after a very evil and creative threat against their manhood that went something along the lines of, "If Shara isn't still in one piece and breathing when I come back, I'm going to hit the three of you in the balls with a crow bar. Then wrap a wire attached to a heavy brick around each of your necks and drop you into the nearest body of water."

Vinny had scoffed a little bit at first until Charlie had shut him up with a murderous look that had had the younger man shutting up in record time and sub consciously moving several steps back until he bumped into Modo and hissed, "Jesus Fucking Christ! She'd do it! She'd actually honest to god do it!"

"Your damn right I will. Later boys." Charlie said cheerfully as she slipped out the door and closed it behind her. Leaving the three nervous and slightly disgruntled males standing there wondering if maybe they could hook the fiery female up with Stoker.

God knew the man needed a good laugh or two after the time he'd been having at his new job.

Modo and Vinny hung around for another hour or so before Modo sighed and set his coffee cup down and said, "Well it's almost ten. I need to go to work."

"You have your cell phone?" Vinny asked as he set his empty cup in the sink and started to follow his bro out. Modo paused in the kitchen door and patted himself down before pulling out his cell phone and checking the bars on it before saying.

"If you need anything for Miss Shara you can call and I'll pick something up for her." Modo said. Throttle quickly went over things in his mind and made a mental note to check the fridge and cabinets and make a list of things that she may need to feel better.

Then he realized that as an alien, he had no idea what she might need to make her better. And that was just a little bit alarming to him since he had no one that he could really ask.

He reached out and grabbed Modo's wrist and pulled him to a stop and looked at him for a second as a slightly panicked look crossed his face before he asked. "What do human's generally need to get well when they're sick?"

Modo got a thoughtful look on his face then said. "Rest. Soup. And lots of care." Throttle blinked at him and looked like he wanted to ask something else when Modo leaned down a little bit and head butted him.

"Quiet bro, I only have one more piece of advice. When in doubt about what your doing, ask Stoker or Shara herself-" Throttle opened his mouth to say something but Modo head butted him again, this time hard enough to earn a loud yelp as Throttle lifted his hands to cover the spot on his forehead that was hurting him so much. "Don't think about it as bothering her when she's sick bro. Think of her as the safety net. She'd be more likely to tell you if your making a mistake or not. Now I've got to go or I'll be late. Later."

Throttle frowned a little bit and waved as Modo slipped out the door, then turned around to ask Vinny what he was going to do with the rest of his day and noted that he was nowhere in sight.

Frowning again, Throttle back tracked through the house looking for him and finally caught sight of him running across the yard after finding a window open in the living room and sighed as he rolled his eyes, knowing that Vinny had slipped out the window and run before he could be put to work.

_The damn punk_. Throttle thought affectionately as he closed the window then walked through the house again, feeling a little _anxious_ and _restless_ before he made his way up the stairs to Shara's room and peeked inside to see if she was asleep again and was surprised to notice that she was not only awake, but sitting up in her bed looking around with a slightly spacey look on her face.

"Shara? Are you alright?" He asked softly as he pushed the door open a little more and stepped into the room. She looked over at him for a second then shifted under the covers like she was going to try getting up and he worried that if she tried she might fall and hurt herself. So he walked over to the bed and very calmly and carefully scooped her up and bodily moved her back to the middle of the bed and then sat down on the edge of the mattress and put a hand on her forehead to see how hot her skin was and made a shocked hissing sound as he jerked his hand back as if it had just been burned.

Gods she was so hot!

Alarmingly so.

_Was it normal for a human to feel so hot when ill?_ He wondered as he settled his hands in his lap and asked, "Do you need anything?"

She looked around again and he got the strange feeling that she couldn't remember where she was or something and reached out and grasped her hand (or was that her leg?) through the covers, drawing her attention back to him as she blinked.

"Do you know who I am?" He asked curiously, wanting to see how her mind was working at the moment and was relieved to see her nod her head before she rasped.

"Throttle."

His lips twitched a little bit. Well at least she recalled who he was at the moment.

But since he wasn't altogether sure how a human's body underwent the strain of a high fever, and functioned then the second she seemed to forget him, he'd be forced to call Modo and bundle her up in a blanket or two and take her to the nearest hospital. "Good girl. Now do you remember where you are?"

"Home?"

"Yes. You're at home. Now do you need anything?" He asked again, hoping that she'd give him a clue on how to make her more comfortable. But she didn't say anything. She just sighed tiredly and shifted under the covers again and startled him by knocking him over on the mattress and laying half on top of him with one arm slung across his torso and her head resting on his stomach. He blinked and lifted his head a little bit to look at her and noted with a slight flush that she was already sound asleep again.

_Well this was certainly unusual._ He thought as he lay his head back and sighed. He supposed that it wouldn't hurt anything to lay here and let her curl up against him and rest. At least he'd be right here if she needed him.


	7. Chapter 7

Throttle wasn't sure when he dozed off.

All he knew was that Shara was curled up against his side and even though she was sick, he felt a peculiar sense of contentment. And maybe that was what caused him to drift off after laying so still for a little while.

Either that or it was the total lack of activity that lulled him to sleep. The last thing he recalled was looking at the clock and noting the time, then everything went blank for a little while and the next thing he knew he was laying on his right side on the bed, his legs bent so that he was almost curled up in a ball like Shara had been.

Only there was something wrong, his sleep drowsy mind alerted him to this when he tilted his head a little bit to look at Shara and make sure that she was still sleeping only to find the space next to him empty.

Absent mindedly he reached out and placed his hand over the spot and frowned when the sheets felt cool under his hand. _Where is she?_ He wondered as he pushed himself upright on the bed and looked around the room for any signs of Shara's presence.

The door was wide open and there was a little white and pink sock laying on the floor just outside the door way. He made a huffing sound and got off of the bed and walked across the room to the door and bent down at the waist and picked up the little sock and stared at it for a second as if he thought it could tell him where the woman was and what she was doing and so on.

But to his knowldge socks didn't talk. So he was shit out of luck in that regard.

He looked down the hall towards the stairs and wondered if maybe she had gotten hungry or simply wanted to move around because she hadn't been able to sleep any more and stuffed the sock in his pants pocket and started walking down the steps, pausing from time to time to tilt his head this way and that and listen for any sounds that could tell him where she was.

He got to the third step from the bottom when he heard a soft 'eek' sound coming from the kitchen a second before he smelled something burning and made a growling sound as he jumped the rest of the steps and took off running for the kitchen and paused in the door way when he saw Shara standing next to the stove with a fiery oven mit in her hand and a dazed look on her face.

He bristled slightly. Unsure if he should panic or simply get pissed and crossed the distance in three strides and smacked the burning oven mit out of her hand and wrapped an arm around her waist and jerked her back while he stepped on it to keep the piece of cloth from burning a hole through her kitchen floor and growled.

"What the hell did you do?" Shara tipped her head back a little bit and looked up at him. Her red eyes glazed.

"You look mad." Was all she said and he felt the nearly over whelming urge to snap at her. Of course he was mad.

He was_ furious_ even.

Here he was staying with her to take care of her, and she had sort of escaped him (which was totally his fault more than it was hers) and found her way into the kitchen where she had tried to cook unsupervised despite the fact that she was feverish and probably had been dangerously close to fainting or something.

She was lucky he'd waken up when he had or she could have been seriously hurt!

"I am." He said as he looked back at the stove as he finished stomping the over mitt out and noticed that it was still smoldering.

He frowned and picked Shara up and set her out the counter then moved over to the stove and grabbed the frying pan that she had been using and tossed it- and it's charred beyond recognition contents- into the sink and started running water over them before reaching out and turning off the stove.

Then turned again to look at Shara who was just sitting there with a crestfallen look on her face.

Oh dear god. She wasn't about to cry was she? "Are you okay?" He asked after a second or so. She blinked and nodded her head meekly.

"What were you doing down here when you should be resting?" He asked in a slightly irritated tone before catching himself and shutting up for a second while he regained control of himself. He didn't need to snap at her. After all she had probably _thought_ that she could fix something to eat on her own.

"I just wanted to fix a snack." She said softly as she hung her head, obviously thinking that he was going to yell at her or something.

"Why didn't you just wake me? I would have fixed something for you if you were hungry."

"But you were asleep-"

"Yes. And now I'm not." He said gently as he put his hands on the counter on either side of her hips and leaned in a little bit until his face was a mere hairs breath from her own. She blinked at him and lifted her hands and put them on his shoulders and for a second he thought that she was going to push him back, but she didn't. She just flushed and looked away.

"Sorry." Shara said in a hushed tone. He made a humming sound.

"What were you wanting to eat?"

"Anything is fine."

"Alright. Let me put you back to bed and I'll fix you something."


	8. Chapter 8

Throttle placed the teal colored soup cup, the spoon and the small plate that he had used to carry the grilled cheese sandwiches to Shara, in the sink and then turned on the tap so that he could rinse the dishes so that they would be easier to wash later. Once that was done he turned off the water and grabbed a clean dish towel and dried his hands on it then set it on the island in the middle of the kitchen as he walked by it and stepped out into the hall way and walked the fifty nine steps it took to reach the living foom and peeked in at the figure wrapped in blankets, stretched out on the couch sound asleep.

Shara hadn't wanted to go back to bed after the kitchen insident and since he had told her that he would make the food, that had left her with nothing to do with herself. So to keep her out of trouble he had planted her on the couch and then dragged some blankets and pillows down from the bedroom and made her a comfy little place to curl up and rest.

He'd even turned on the TV so that she would be able to hear some noise while he left the room to cook.

He moved a little bit further into the room and walked in a wide semi circle around the couch so that he could study Shara's sleeping face.

She looked...well pretty. Which was _odd_ considering the fact that her skin was flushed and sweaty, her eyes were red rimmed and her nose was a little bit red too from being blown so many times in the past hour.

Most males would have found her current state of illness a total turn off. But he sort of liked it. He sort of liked having a woman rely on him because she was in a weak and vulnerable state.

But that was because he felt needed.

He dropped down to a squat in front of the couch and propped his elbow on his thigh and settled his chin in his hand and stared at her. A faint smile curving his lips. He liked Shara. The realization should have caused him to panic. But instead of panicking he felt strangely calm and at peace with what he felt.

He wasn't sure how long he stayed in that position just watching her sleep and after a little while he settled himself on the floor in front of the couch and laid his head down just a few inches from Shara's face and gently brushed her dark hair back with his finger tips causing her to stir slightly and shifting her position a little bit then going back to sleep.

Throttle sat there close to her for what seemed like forever before his cell phone started ringing. The sound of the phone's rings sounded abnormally loud to his sensitive ears and caused him to jerk himself upright and start to furiously search his clothing for the damned thing in the hopes that he could find it before the irritating sound could wake Shara.

Unfortunately he had to resort to partial stripping just to find it.

He had his hoody, and his shirt laying on the floor and the top fastening on his pants was undone and he was currently turning his pockets inside out when his phone clattered to the floor.

He made an irritated sound and grabbed the phone and flipped it open and growled into the receiver then glanced up at Shara and noticed that she was now wide awake and looking at him like he had just kicked a puppy or something. He gave her an apologetic look then realized that he was sitting on her floor partially naked and flushed to the roots of his hair and snatched up his clothes and gave her a tight lipped smile before jumping to his feet and running out of the room.

Once he was out in the hallway he put his clothes down on a table that had little knick knacks on it and put his phone back against his ear. "Hello."

_"Well hello sunshine-"_ Modo's amused voice said in his ear. _"How is Shara doing?" _

"She was sleeping until my phone rang..." Throttle said in a dark tone. Modo was quiet for a second or so.

_"Sorry about waking her. Has she been resting alright?"_

"Not really. She almost burned the house down earlier when she decided to try and cook unsupervised."

_"Where were you?"_

"I...was off doing something-" Throttle said evasively. There was no way that he was going to tell Modo that he had fallen asleep beside her while she had been napping. The older man would tell Stoker who in turn would never let him live down the embarrassment. "How is your first day at work going?"

Modo was silent again then said in a hushed tone,_ "You know that woman that hangs out with Shara? Charlie. Well, she's my teaching aid and she's been sabotaging me left and right- And god, by the time this day is over I'm going to want to hole up somewhere with some scotch and drink myself silly!" _

Throttle made a soft choking sound. "Sucks to be you."

_"Don't I know it. Do you need anything for Shara since I'll be stopping by the store for some alcohol?"_

Throttle made a funny sound in the back of his throat and wondered if Shara had enough soup and stuff to tide her over until she was better. He told Modo to hold on for a second and made his way to the kitchen where he checked the cabinets and made a mental note of what she had and what she might need.

"She might need five or six cans of soup. Some chicken noodle, some potato and vegetable soups. Some more cold medicine and maybe something to help her sleep soundly at night." Throttle replied as he closed the cabinet door and finished up his talk with Modo before closing his phone and then stuffing it back into his pants pocket and went to check on Shara.


	9. Chapter 9

Shara was sound asleep for the rest of the evening.

Throttle didn't even manage to wake her when Modo came by with the medicine and soup that Throttle had asked him to grab. Nor did she wake up when he scooped her up off fo the couch aqnd carried her back upstairs and took her temp. Which had raised from one hundred and one to a whopping one hundred and three degrees.

Alarming him greatly.

He sat back on the corner of her bed and pulled out his cell as Modo came walking up to check on them and dialed Stokers number. Hoping that he would have some advice to give. The phone rang once before his adopted father picked it up and growled into the reciever.

_"What?"_

"Uh-" Throttle balked for a moment before pulling himself together enough to speak. "Sorry to bother you right now old timer but I sort of have a situation here. Do you know about humans when they're sick? Cause I need to know everything- _like now_." Throttle said urgently as he bundled Shara up in her thick coverlet. He could feel the sweat soaking her hair, skin and clothes.

He looked back at Modo who paused right behind him with his car keys in his hand, waiting anxiously as Stoker finally asked. _"What do you need to know?"_

"I have a human female here, adult, young- She has a medical condition."

_"Take her to the hospital."_ Stoker said suddenly causing Throttle to blink and take the phone away form his ear to scowl at it before putting it back into place.

"You didn't ask for any specifics. Don't you at least want to know what's wrong with her? How high her temp is?"

_"No. Take her to the hospital."_

"That seems a little bit excessive-" Throttle said in a calm tone that belied his worry. He heard something bang into a table on Stoker's end of the phone a second before his adopted father snapped.

_"Listen to me carefully Thorn- Human's are a great deal different than us. They aren't meant to run high fevors and such, especially if they have a medical condition. If the medical condition mentioned before has anything_ _to do with the heart, lungs, or brain- then take her to the hospital before that condition starts to kick in and kills her. Don't sit there and wait to see what happens, just go. And if you need me then call me."_

The line went dead and Throttle took a deep breath, trying to keep from panicking and looked over at where Modo was supposed to be and found only empty space. "Huh?" Throttle said unintellgibly as he caught sight of his brother's back along with some of the coverlet then looked back at the bed and jumped to his feet with a startled shout.

Apparently his brother had already picked the woman up and was already heading for the front door to do as Stoker advised. _How the hell had he managed to do that_ _without me noticing?_ Throttle wondered in shock and a little bit of awe as he jumped to his feet and all but ran after Modo.

He caught up to his brother as he was loading Shara into the back of the SUV parked in her driveway and managed to climb into the back seat as Modo finished tying two pieces of seperate sets of seat belts around Shara just in case then glanced at him from the corner of his good eye and said warningly, "Buckle up boy. I'm not sparing the tires."

Throttle gave Modo more than a little nervous look and fastened himself in, then grabbed what was left of the belts that went to the ones tied around Shara and tied them around himself as Modo closed the door and walked around to the driver's side and climbed in.

Seconds later his older brother peeled out of the drive way at eighty miles per hour and almost crashed the SUV into one of their neighbors cars as he started driving towards the nearest hospital.


	10. Chapter 10

Two in a half hours later-

Throttle was sitting in the hospital waiting room with his head in his hands, his elbows resting on his legs; looking utterly miserable in his helplessness.

They had reached the hospital due to Modo's driving in under twenty minutes. And while Throttle would have usually been impressed at his older brother's driving ability on a planet that wasn't their own.

He had gotten distracted when Shara had started siezing and had had to untie her and lay her flat across the seat so that he could cradle her head in his lap as Modo twisted half around in his seat for a moment to see what was going on, all he'd really seen was a lot of blurry motion in his mirror, before turning back to the front and gunning it.

Once at the hospital Modo hadn't bothered parking the car, instead choosing to crash it and quickly climb out and pull Shara from the back seat and then carried her inside shouting for someone to help.

By the time Throttle had managed to climb out of Modo's car and made his way inside, Shara was being placed on a gurney by several nurses whom ave her a shot then wheeled her into the emergency room where they couldn't see her anymore.

They had been sitting in the waiting room, waiting for someone to come out and tell them something for a while now. And Throttle was starting to think that no one was going to come out of the Er and tell them anything. It was worrying. Not knowing anything.

Yet at the same time he kept telling himself,_ No news is good news. No news is good news. No news- _He was suddenly startled out of his thoughts by a coffee cup being thrust under his nose. He jumped in his seat and looked up, and up, and up until he was staring at Modo's concerned face.

"Here Throttle, this will keep you alert."

Throttle felt like snorting even as his brother spoke those words. Like being so worried his heart could stop any second just from the stress wasn't enough to keep him alert. Not only that but everytime he felt himself close his eyes just for a moment- All he could see was Shara siezing and all he could think was how much it must have hurt her.

He wondered if the doctors had been able to bring her condition under control.

He took the coffee cup from Modo and muttered a raspy sounding 'thanks' then set the cup down and resumed feeling miserable.

He sat with his face buried in his hands for another ten minutes when he heard the familiar voices of Stoker and Vinny coming into the room and looked up then over at Modo who scratched his cheek as he caught Throttle's dirty look.

"Uh...yeah, I called them because I figured we could ya know- sit here in shifts until we knew something." Modo explained as Throttle dropped his hands from his face and then growled.

"Idiot."

Modo flushed then hissed at him. "Shara is their neighbor too. So they have every right to be here too."

"But they aren't close to her-" Throttle said, trying to point out that both males were far too absorbed with their own lives to spare much time for a human. Much less a neighbor in poor health. But the glare he got from Modo stopped him from getting any further as his brother leaned over into his personal space and growled.

"You aren't that close to her either. Yet here you are."

"That's different."

"Oh? How so?" Modo asked curiously as Stoker and Vinny came to a skidding stop in front of them.

"_What happened_?" The older of the four males demanded in a dark tone, pretty much telling them without actually saying the words that he was _not_ happy to be here.

Throttle looked at Modo, both of them exchanging a look of wariness before answering. "W-We took Shara to the hospital like you said."

Stoker gave them a calculating look then smiled and reached out with both hands and without reason or rhyme, slammed their heads together and growled, "Start from the beginning you fools."


End file.
